When Wired dropped its article about the “next-generation PlayStation,” which I’ll henceforth refer to as the PlayStation 5, even though Sony refuses to name it yet, I was shocked. It’s long been a suspicion that the PS5 is coming soon, but that reveal was seemingly out of nowhere as Sony sought to head off the inevitable leaks about the system and its specs. I mean, once that thing is in the hands of developers, it’s only a matter of time before we’d get details trickling out. Instead, Sony takes control of the conversation by releasing the information first.
With E3 fast approaching and Sony opting out of this year’s event, I thought it’d be a good long while before we’d hear much else about the PS5. I mean, we already know it won’t release this fiscal year, which means the earliest it could come out is April 1, 2020, and a lot of speculation puts the release in the latter half of the year. Why keep teasing out information about a console that’s another 18 months out at this point? If you think back to the PS4 reveal, it was first revealed in February 2013, shown more at E3 2013, and then released November 2013. That’s a 10 month turnaround from initial reveal to release, because trying to hold your audience for much longer than that gets tough. Brevity is best, other we end up waiting for years and years anticipating products that never seem to come.
Now, I’m not suggesting that the PS5 will release in 10 months. I don’t consider the Wired article to be an official reveal of the console. It’s why Sony refuses to name it yet. If they don’t name it, they haven’t officially unveiled it. But then we heard even more information about the PS5, including the load-time demo mentioned in the Wired article actually shown off. We got additional details such as remote play functionality and PS Now. We’ve seen interesting partnerships, like Sony partnering with rival Microsoft for cloud technology, and it finally allowing EA Access on its console.
With the whirlwind of information we already have surrounding the “next-generation PlayStation,” (c’mon guys, it’s the PS5), do we really think that a reveal will be pushed off into 2020? Sony’s already left us hungry for more information. They keep feeding us little bits, and I just can’t see the company waiting until early next year to fully unveil the PS5. With the money it’s saved by not doing PSX 2018 or E3 2019, my bets are on some big plans for both the PS5 reveal event and launch event.
My best guess is that fall of this year, we’ll see a reveal event. I don’t think they will even pair it with a PSX-like event. Looking at the PS4 reveal, it was its own exclusive event independent of anything else. Of course, a lot is changing this coming generation, so it’s certainly possible that PSX 2019 could also serve as the PS5 reveal event. Either way, I’d say that we’ll officially know about the PS5 well before 2020 rolls around, and we’ll be heading towards a release that’s earlier than past consoles have been. If we’re sticking with the same 10 month cycle, I think it’s entirely possible that it could release as early as August 2020.
Of course, that’s all pure speculation on my part, but the evidence is painting a picture of a rather imminent reveal, as opposed to having to wait until next year for more information. Sony’s got a strategy in place. It chose when to start the conversation, and it isn’t going to drag it on for an overly long time in the fast-paced tech culture we live in.
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